Motivation and wisdom are both needed in order to achieve success, but in so many books about selling, the focus is all on motivation. Here is a quick example to illustrate my point:

Recently, I noticed an article about the importance of selling and sales people called ‘Passionate converts’. The article was very useful in arguing for the importance of the contribution of the selling profession to both individual companies and industries. However there was a dimension that was conspicuous by its absence: the importance of good practice.

Here is one of the earlier statements in the article:

“To succeed in sales you need a combination of drive, ambition, competitiveness, passion for the product and, let’s face it, a fairly thick skin.”

A few more paragraphs and there is another statement:

“In sales the speed at which an individual is promoted is largely down to the individual”.

And finally:

“If I can sell to people who do not want to know, I can sell anything”.

If taken out of context, these statements could reinforce mis-selling. Drive, ambition and self -belief may be counterproductive if not guided by the latest wisdom on best practice. The missing dimension in the message was the need to stress the importance of identifying and implementing professional best practice. Obviously this point applies equally to either marketing or sales. This brings me to my next question: Do we have a clear description of best practice? The answer is: Yes, in the form of the new world-class national occupational standards for marketing and sales.

The National Occupational Standards (NOS) for marketing and sales

Over the past two decades, the UK vocational system has witnessed a revolution in training and development. Standards or best practice are at the core of this revolution. The standard issue was brought about by many educational and industrial professionals who stressed the lack of consistency among practitioners in various professions. In addition the UK was increasingly becoming aware that what would make a difference in the future between the UK PLC and other competitors is not quantity but quality.

The quality must be underpinned by world class standards of professional practice to help increase both effectiveness and efficiency of UK products and services reflected throughout the value chain. This was exactly the task that was assigned to the Marketing and Sales Standards Setting Body (MSSSB), the Government-appointed sector body for marketing and sales. As a result of sustained research and consultation that spanned three years, we now have world class standards for marketing and sales.

Description of the new standards

The national standards are based on a well tested method of job analysis known as functional analysis. This approach initially identifies the key purpose of the occupational area and then proceeds to identify all the subsequent relevant functions/dimensions associated with this key purpose. The next two diagrams identify, respectively, the marketing and sales key purposes and derived functions presented below in the form of a wheel.
Purpose and functions of marketing

Marketing’s key purpose:

To advance the aims of organisations (whether private, public or voluntary) by providing direction, gaining commitment and achieving sustainable results and value through identifying, anticipating and satisfying stakeholder requirements (MSSSB, 2006).

In order to achieve these aims marketing may need to address several functions inextricably associated with good practice in marketing. Such broad functions are reflected in the circle below:

© MSSSB

Purpose and functions of selling

Sales’ key purpose:

To create, build and sustain mutually beneficial and profitable relationships through personal and organisational contacts.

© MSSSB
The Standards define best practice across the principal functions and the associated activities in achieving the key purpose. A total of 100 possible job roles in marketing and 50 job roles in sales were identified in the standards. Each of these job roles were defined in terms of targeted achievements, relevant skills and underpinning knowledge (For more information see MSSSB website at www.msssb.org).

It is clear that many people associated with marketing and sales practice may cover only a small dimension amongst those represented above. This applies particularly to specialist agencies that may only deal with say market research, advertising or PR etc. On the sales side, different industries may assign different activities to say, telesales, key account roles in line with the level of responsibility assigned to members of staff.

However all of them are encouraged to consider the views of their stakeholders (including those representing social interests). In addition any professional practice associated with marketing or sales need to take into account strategic considerations. These two aspects of the standards that are pervasive to any marketing or sales practice highlight clearly the aims for sustainability of businesses through the triple bottom line of profit, social and environmental considerations. This implies that stakeholders have expectations beyond the profit line and expect social and environmental aspects to be included as a primary part of the decision-making process.

The standards are therefore a good benchmark to help not only recognise but develop marketing and sales professionals throughout the industries. They are also a very good basis to develop credible qualifications that refer to skills that are relevant to the needs of the industries. As it was argued at a recent national launch of these standards, a truly professional approach to marketing and sales is decisive for businesses that want to be competitive in the global economy. It is crucial that these standards are supported so that best practice spreads throughout the country and supports UK PLC.

Standards are the difference between a competent workforce and an incompetent one. In a recent report 115 reasons were produced for the value of the standards. In short, the standards clarify job role requirements, support assessments/appraisal, help identify weaknesses in skills and knowledge associated with a job role and help recognise and reward achievements as shown below:

Early beneficiaries of the standards

As explained above there are many possible uses for the standards. Early implementers of the standards have been presenting at recent launch events around the UK, promoting the benefits they have derived already.

The first launch event filled the RSA in London. Sir Digby Jones, the current Government Skills Tsar, gave a compelling presentation about the value of sales and marketing to the competitiveness of UK Plc. Teri Walker, Global Programmes Manager of Xerox, told the audience about how useful Xerox found the standards in helping them move from an old model of selling to a new model of selling that highlights:

“An in-depth understanding of our customer’s industry and their business issues”, enabling salespeople to “develop solutions that deliver measurable ROI”.

This is shown in the diagram below.

(Illustration used with kind permission from Teri Walker).

Among other benefits realised by Xerox include:

In Cardiff, after a supportive presentation from the Welsh Minister for Enterprise, Dr Anthony Marsella, Chief Marketing Officer of Samsung UK explained how Samsung had applied the standards to:

Training and Development

Performance Management

In Edinburgh, Keith Arundale, Master of the Worshipful Company of Marketors explained:

In Belfast, Ade Brine, Director of Partnerships, Citation PLC described how the standards will:

Several methodologies were also suggested in stressing the relevance of the standards to business needs. In particular Jim Johnson, Managing Director for Radian, after illustrating the number of contexts in which he managed to support businesses through the standards, argued that the sales standards can be presented at the heart of the balanced scorecard approach as shown in the diagram below:

(Illustration courtesy of Jim Johnson)

Tim Royds, of Highclere Sales Training and Consultancy, provided a ‘pyramidic’ validation of the sales standards through the following diagram:

(Illustration courtesy of Tim Royds)

This shows how the standards underpin the quality of inputs into a job, which have to be managed in order to achieve the right outputs and give purpose.

On the professional body side, David Thorp, Head of Insights of the Chartered Institute of Marketing expressed the full support of CIM in the development of the standards and the current effort within the various CIM departments to revise practice in the light of the advice provide by the standards. He explained that the standards offer clear opportunities to all professional bodies associated with marketing or sales.

There are also several indications from a number of bodies that explained the need to revise their marketing practice in the light of the standards. This was very much encouraged by Alan McIntyre, Marketing Director for Scottish Enterprise, during his presentation in Edinburgh at IBM, Scotland.

The Way Forward

The standards have long been overdue to support individuals, companies and, ultimately UK PLC. This view, which was hypothesised over 3 years ago, is proving to be vindicated according to early feedback that has started emanating from early users of the new standards. This is a very welcome position as it supports the objectives assigned to the MSSSB when it was set up over 6 years ago. MSSSB, its Boards and supporters are determined to build on these very encouraging results by developing effective tools relevant to the needs of the marketing and sales sectors. They have already moved on to the next stage of this work as they have already embarked on several follow up projects, in particular, the development of a small group of units specifically designed to address the needs of non-specialist users of marketing and sales skills. Another key project that promises to provide another significant route to professional skills for marketing and sales practitioners is through the planned marketing apprenticeship. So watch this space.

Postscript:

MSSSB, the Government-appointed national body for marketing and sales, welcomes involvement from marketing and sales practitioners who are keen to take part in projects that help develop the professionalism of the marketing and sales communities. If you would like to be involved, please contact: Dr Chahid Fourali at chahidfourali@cim.co.uk

By Dr Chahid Fourali,
Head of the MSSSB

Email: chahidfourali@cim.co.uk
Web: http://www.msssb.org

With contributions from:

Beth Rogers, Chair of the national Sales Board; Adrian Brine, Director of Partnership, Citation Plc; Dr Anthony Marsella, Chief Marketing Officer, Samsung UK; Jim Johnston, Managing Director, Radian; Keith Arundale, Master, The Worshipful Company of Marketors; Teri Walker, Global programme manager, Xerox.